Everyone loves ranch dressing, me included! But, it doesn't really fit into a healthy diet unless it is an occasional splurge.......until now! This is a healthy alternative to standard ranch dressing, but with all of the flavor of the original. No sacrificing here!
INGREDIENTS
- 1.5 cups low fat small curd cottage cheese
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened plain almond milk
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp cracked black pepper
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 2-4 cloves of garlic, crushed in a garlic press, or chopped if you are going to blend the garlic
- 3 tbsp fresh chives, finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp dried dill (or 1 tsp fresh chopped dill)
DIRECTIONS
- Add cottage cheese and 1/2 cup of almond milk to a medium sized bowl or a blender. Blend with an immersion/stick blender in the bowl, or in a standard blender, until smooth. Depending on the consistency of your cottage cheese (some are thicker than others), you may need to add the extra 2 tbsp of almond milk. You can add more or less to get to the consistency that you like. Once you have it where you like it, move on to step 2.
- Add salt, black pepper, and onion powder and blend again. If you like your garlic mixed in well, with no pieces, you can add the garlic at this point too. This recipe is really garlic-y with the fresh garlic. If you like a milder garlic flavor, you can add less garlic, or you can use pre-chopped jarred garlic, or garlic powder, instead of the fresh garlic. I like my ranch to have larger pieces of the herbs in it, so I add in the herbs after blending. If you like yours completely blended in, you can add them at this point as well.
- If you like pieces of the garlic and herbs, add them after blending in the other seasonings and stir them in manually.
- Enjoy! This dressing will keep in the fridge for up to one week. Just stir before serving. No need to blend again. The flavors will marry more after setting for an hour or more, but it can be served immediately.
You can easily mix this recipe up with different fresh herbs of your choice, like italian parsely, or you can get really creative and add salsa or avocado for something really different. Also, if you do not have the fresh ingredients available, you can use this base recipe with ranch packets too, but you won't use an entire packet....add the mix slowly to taste. This option is not as healthy of an option, but it still works great in a pinch or if you have picky eaters.
If you are on the 21 Day Fix meal plan, you can count this two ways. You could fill an orange container and count it as one orange, or you could fill half of a red container and count it as half of a red.
For calorie counters, one 2 tablespoon serving is equal to 19 calories! What?!?!